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Smoke: Yes, I am preparing for SR. You'll see what I mean at the end of the chapter…

Selphiefan 89: Thanks for reviewing! Glad you're enjoying it!

225 years later…

I wandered into the deep tunnel carved out of heavy stone. My host would be beyond the gate, the gate that hid the inhabitant from the rest of the world, including his own brothers. "Melchiah?" I called out. "I'm here."

"Yes," the former youngest lieutenant hissed. "It's so good to see you. I haven't much visitors these days as you can imagine."

I watched as the huge figure approached, covered with rotting skins and tattered gore. Melchiah's harsh, beady red eyes stared right through me, yet I was not disturbed. Even to most vampires, Melchiah's appearance was hideous, as was his offspring's, but it wasn't their fault. Since Melchiah had been the last to be raised, he had received the smallest portion of Kain's gift. His body had begun to disintegrate, so he had to acquire human flesh to layer over his moldering features. Still, deep down beneath all that flayed skin, he was the same being he always was. Melchiah, always gentle, thoughtful, and kind; although, some madness had crept in as of late and preyed on his uneasy mind.

Melchiah was my only companion outside of Kain. Rahab had completely secluded himself in his flooded bell tower and Turel had gone missing. I myself had lead a search party through the sooty, rough Turelim Clan lands, but soon enough everyone else came to the same perplexing conclusion: Turel had left. Somehow. Someway. Somewhere. No one provided any information, and nothing could be proved. Had he picked up his massive weight and left? Had he been assassinated; his body now dissolved in a stagnant lake somewhere?

"Have you evolved yet, Marina?" Melchiah croaked, interrupting the flow of my musings.

I gazed down at my cloven hands and at my white skin that had taken on a faint teal cast. A side effect from the nights of my marine escapades, I supposed. Aside from this, no other changes had taken place. "Can't you see me, Melchiah? Do I seem any different?"

Melchiah grunted, and with effort pushed himself through the bars of his resting place. Melchiah's sole ability was to pass through barriers, much like Kain's talent of mist form to undermine portals and doors. He stepped close to me: heavy feet rumbling the concrete underground chamber around us. Melchiah occupied the lowest living space; living under the levels of stone floors that contained his mechanically based territory. The Melchahim were quite industrious and ingenious with their methods of welding gears and levers; creating defense systems no one dreamed possible. All was steam-powered and technologically advanced. Sadly, the rest had de-evolved into a dark age.

It happened a few short decades ago. Vampires created now had lost all sense of reasoning or decency, two essential cores of humanity. They had become misshapen monsters, a number of them not capable of the slightest syllable of speech. The things these fledglings did best were fighting, killing, and feeding. Of course, some Clans had changed for the worse more than others. Regretfully, the new generation of Dumahim served as our guards at the palace, though there were barely a dozen of them on hand. They hardly helped in an emergency, and could not comprehend certain concepts. Yet, they had a home. Kain feared a rebellion if he turned them away. Also, Kain surmised they weren't intelligent enough to contrive any schemes against their emperor. Consequently, they obeyed their lord without question.

Melchiah's breath rasped in his throat, as if it were hard for him to move. At last, he stopped, towering over me. "You do look different, Marina."

I felt a twinge of sorrow for the deformed being. He forgot so many things. Recent things anyway. He knew I had evolved. I believed that innately he understood. Oh, we had been through this countless times.

"Yes, I have. Remember, Melchiah?"

Melchiah's soulful eyes were blank. I sighed and tried again. "Have you been well?"

"You can see for yourself," Melchiah snarled. "All I can do now is watch the world collapse around me while I rot underground. One small comfort will be if Nosgoth does cave in, it'll flatten me first."

"You do not mean that," I whispered. "Someday, soon…"

"I won't live to see "someday," Marina, and neither will you," he hissed.

I listened patiently to his ramblings and eruptions. They quickly dissipated if you simply let them burn out into nothingless. Usually, I would soothe him of a tale of Nosgoth's past when we were all happier and lived together, where the silver crescent moon could actually be witnessed rising into the sky. I haven't admired the stars in years. The skies were always gloomy and filled with steel-gray clouds of smoke; forever polluted from countless wars and bonfires that kept the wild, fanatic vampire hunters warm at night.

Melchiah suddenly halted and grew deadly silent. He drank me in. "Have you been sleeping well, Marina? I haven't. I am plagued with nightmares."

I frowned, not liking where the abrupt turn where this conversation was going. "I can relate. I used to have terrible dreams, but they ceased within the past century."

"Yes, but I think my dreams will most certainly become a reality. I've dreamed about him, Marina. He's going to return to us." The slightly mad vampire's eyes attained a faraway, glazed stare.

"Who?"

"Raziel. Have you not heard? He will return. Soon."

"That's impossible," I blurted out. "No one survives the Abyss!" Yet, intuitively perfectly well Melchiah was telling the truth. My brain just didn't want to believe it.

"He will return. Like an avenging angel, he will come back. Don't you see? He's going to kill us. He'll start with me first, of course. I was the last to be raised, and now I will be the first to be slain. Then, he'll go in order, ending with…" He paused. Time was standing still. My blood had frozen in my veins. "…you," he finished at last.

I could tolerate no more. "Melchiah, I must protest—"

"Protest all you want, but it won't save anyone." He was oddly resigned about this.

A keen desire to get away as quickly as possible raced through me, but it wouldn't erase the validity of Melchiah's words. Would Raziel come back…for revenge? Yes, I believed it. Killing every brother in succession—ending with me. Would he go after Kain too? He had ordered the execution, so Raziel would probably hate him the most. Did Kain even know of this? What were his plans?

I felt chilled and uncomfortable in this hollow, dank, subterranean chamber. It was time to leave. "Melchiah, I'm going to return to Sanctuary now. There are other affairs that I need to attend."

"The Sanctuary of the Clans." Melchiah drew the words out longingly; the discussion of prophetic dreams had completely slipped from his mind. "Tell me, is it still the same?"

I did not hesitate to answer. "No. It's entirely different."

Moodily, I swept over the dusts of the old rotten earth that was our "land" through the craggy mountain paths that had once fascinated me when the sun was setting and the brown stone became washed with pinks, reds, and purple hues. Now, the pleasure of the sunset was denied us. The sky had become as desolate as the earth below. I became akin to a shadow, skirting over the rough stones and small hills of dirt. Dead dirt with no nutrients left to even grow a weed.

At least there was water, much to the mortals' joy and the vampire's despair. I sided with humans in this matter. However, one day, the water may cease to flow and eventually dry up. Then you would know the end was at hand. With no water to satisfy human thirst, there would be no more vessels for human blood. What would become of their fate? Our destinies were tied together more than these overzealous hunters that hailed from both races would think. I couldn't help but think about Eleanore. Did she have a little daughter? Or did my former family come to an end sooner than the rest?

The huge structure housed the marble and iron world operated the "administration" behind closed doors. Kain was ruler in name only. Respective Clans knew who their true leader was. Excluding the Dumahim naturally, since they had no Clan lord. The Dumahim were a plague and had finally committed the heinous act of seizing the Razielim Clan territory. Kain had no objections this time. Perhaps, Raziel could get his own revenge on them, should he decide to return.

I passed within the open gate, with no guards standing by as usual, and whisked down the empty, depressing, dull corridors where the marble had been worn down and dulled in luster by thousands of passing boots and clawed feet whilst wearing their heavy armor. It had nearly sparkled in the past, but here in the present it was old and needed to be rebuilt.

I found my way to the Throne room and opened the brass doors, long ago etched with an emblem of the Soul Reaver on each one. There, Kain sat, staring over his shoulder at the Pillar of Balance. I had caught him doing this more than once. It was almost as if he was staring it down or challenging it to speak. Sometimes, I swore it even talked back. I heard a woman's voice, or so I thought, when I chanced to enter this chamber alone. It seemed as if the very wind wailed and howled throughout this room; sounding like a ghost crying. The Pillars could be haunted. But that notion was ridiculous. Wasn't it?

Kain was still glaring as if he could see something I could not. Maybe Raziel's spirit had came home. Still, I was concerned. "Kain?" I called out tentatively, vainly wanting to get his attention.

He stopped glaring immediately and turned to me. "Marina, I've been expecting you."

"Oh. Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Kain chuckled slightly and rose from his throne. He always did that in my presence. Privately, of course. Our entire relationship had been kept clandestine, though it was partly unveiled now. Back in the days where the lieutenants walked the corridors outside when I had first arrived, it had been near impossible to make this news plain. I liked when he did this. Treating me as an equal instead of a subject. It would be uncomfortable on both our parts if he remained on his seat of power dictating to me when we shared the same bed.

"Yes. Something extremely important and very serious." The words were foreboding, yet Kain's facial expression said otherwise. A bit of a smile curled his lips. He was going to cast me out.

I was instantaneously alarmed. "What is it, Kain?"

"I am afraid the hourglass has run out. The end is upon us, and you will need what to do to preserve your life if necessary."

He still had that awkward grin in his face. Wait…awkward? I had never known Kain to be out of the loop or be out of poise at any point I had known him. This must be grave. If he predicted Nosgoth would disappear in the morning with all inhabitants along with it, I would've believed him.

He sighed. This conversation obviously pained him. "Things don't last forever, Marina. They run their course and they ultimately conclude. You've spent over a thousand years here, and I hope you have treasured every one, despite the circumstances."

I dreaded to hear what was coming. "And?" My voice wavered. I was close to tears. I couldn't help remembering when I had cried in front of him when he thought that I was a spy sent here to harm him due to Zephon's lies. He had spared me, but I felt that if I wept now, he would never forgive me. I was eleven hundred years old, not barely two hundred anymore.

"Raziel will reemerge soon," Kain whispered. "I know this for a fact. He will spare no one, he will be so blind with hatred."

I lost it. "What will we do?" I cried. "Are we to kill him again?"

Kain frowned deeply. "No. He must complete destiny. I will help him do this."

I? "Am I to stay here then?" I asked feebly.

"Absolutely not. If anything happens to me, or you are in real danger, go to the Time-Streaming Chamber. I know you have not forgotten it. Turelim have overrun it, but you are friend and ally to them. They will not interfere."

"Where shall I go?" The framework was crashing down around me. I was as bewildered as a newborn.

"Anywhere, so long as it's not in the future. Anyplace in anytime will have better prospects than this bitter wasteland."

"As for Melchiah, Rahab, and Zephon?"

"Be smart, Marina!" Kain lashed out. "There's no hope for them. They've served their purpose. Indeed they have. You can't keep saving everyone. No one can. But now the time has come to tell you of another secret about Raziel and his brothers."

Quietly, I slumped to the polished marble, ornately patterned floor. Nothing could surprise me.

Kain lowered his tone and calmed down somewhat. "Marina, have you ever gone into the Tomb of the Sarafan?"

He didn't need to say anything else. I was in shock, and I had suspected something akin to this for centuries. "They were Sarafan? All six of them?" I guessed.

"Correct. I raised them all: endowing each corpse a bit of my soul. I cared for them that much, Marina. In life, they had been Sarafan inquisitors. I thought that you should know. There will be no more surreptitiousness. On my part anyway."

Somehow, I rather doubted that. Slowly I steadied myself to my feet. I silently swore at myself for breaking like that under pressure. I gazed into Kain's eyes and was quite amazed at what I saw. They had misted over. I had done it, so it seemed. I had succeeded in melting the ice around Kain's heart. However, such was an empty victory when I examined my own. In that instant, I was overcome with such revelation that I almost fell right back on the marble below. Ice…

Kain and I were not so different. In the entire process of helping heal Kain and loving him, I had failed to notice one thing. The coating of ice sealing around my own heart. All this bitterness had been welling up within me. Lucius. Zephon's taunts and jeers. Raziel's death. Nosgoth's continued corruption. All these uncertain and unrelated factors had taken hold of me, eventually making me oblivious to everything. No wonder I could no longer swim. You needed to be at peace and harmony within yourself for a truly enjoyable experience. How many occasions had I been utterly wrathful and had vented my anger by stomping the land in contempt as I walked? Kain and Eleanore had been exceptions. They had broke through. Yet, even now as Kain was telling these tales, the hurt that was generated in me was turning to resentfulness. Kain appeared to be moving on, while I was stuck in the arctic past. I had never gotten over Lucius. I had never gotten over the belief that I had been cheated when I was brought a thousand years into the future as a vampire. It would hurt to confess this to Kain. This certainly would make our relationship a little less meaningful, wouldn't it? At least he was being honest with me. My own deceit and selfishness had too strong a hold. I could feel its iron clutches squeezing the humanity right out of me. How could I not have noticed it? Had Zephon been right to call me a bitch?

"Marina? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Not physically. I'll be all right," I replied. Meaning that I'll swallow the hurt down yet again, adding more ice to my internalized defense system that will in turn feed my self-righteous attitude.

"I think I'll retire early," I mused, leaving Kain standing in the center of his throne room, his destiny towering behind him.

I lay in the crushed velvet bed with the coverlet up to my chin in the soft lamplight. I wouldn't sleep today. There were so many thoughts and new information to digest; I swore that had taken material form in front of me behind my closed lids. What had Raziel looked like in his Sarafan armor? As a human? What color had their hair have been? I highly doubted they were all ebony-haired. This was a vampire trait more often than not. Perhaps, one had possessed an auburn mane or had been born blonde. Did Rahab have a fixation with water back then? Had Zephon always been as cruel as he was now? Useless speculation.

I shifted and a sigh escaped my lips. My lifestyle was coming to an end. I would see Raziel again, and when I did, it might be the last person I lay eyes on again. How soon should I leave? Did I plan of leaving? I needed to reevaluate my options. What did Kain plan to do? Should I not leave with him? We had been together for so long.

As if on cue, Kain entered the shadowy bedroom and lay down next to me. I could feel his eyes on my back. "Marina, are you asleep?" he asked gently.

"No. Sleep will not come this day."

Kain tenderly turned my head over towards him and kissed me full on the lips. I returned his affectionate gesture fervently. This could be our last morning together. He knew it and I knew it. We took this opportunity to explore the comfort of each other's arms. Afterwards, Kain whispered one sentence I would never forget.

"I love you."

There. He'd finally admitted it out loud. I hadn't heard those words for so damned long.

"I love you too," I murmured. Finally, against all odds, I slumbered at last.

Far below the craggy shelves of rock, a being sat up and gasped. A voice came to him, rumbling in his ears. A soft, reassuring voice. Speaking of better things and blessings to come. And vengeance.

The being stared around the pit-like room alive with pulsing tentacles running hither and thither as if a giant squid was dangling from above him. He remembered. His past, his name, his father, his brothers. More importantly, he remembered what they did to him.

Hauling himself up from the spectral mists, he listened to his benefactor's voice. His maker's voice. Soon, he began to understand what needed to be done. Woe to any who got in his way…